Are free elections in danger with AMLO's electoral reform?
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(CNN Spanish) --
Mexico's Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday rejected a controversial electoral reform proposed in April by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which critics said had the potential to undermine the independence of its authorities.
Although the proposal obtained 269 votes in favor and 225 votes against, the ruling Morena party and its parliamentary allies could not add the two-thirds needed to approve the changes proposed by López Obrador.
Among other points, the rejected proposal sought to replace the National Electoral Institute (INE), the country's autonomous electoral body, with a smaller body, but with more powers;
that its authorities be elected by universal suffrage;
cut funding to political parties, and reduce the number of deputies.
The electoral reform proposed by López Obrador sought to lower the costs of the Mexican political system, but the initiative has several controversial points that led hundreds of thousands of people to march in Mexico City and in more than thirty cities in the country to oppose the proposal that, according to the opposition, is a strategy to eliminate the INE.
Mexico marches against electoral reform promoted by AMLO 4:03
The proposal sought an estimated saving of some US$1.2 billion (24 billion Mexican pesos) by proposing adjustments in the electoral and legislative bureaucracy, as well as a decrease in the budget of political parties.
After the national demonstration, called by some 50 civil organizations, political parties and opposition legislators, the leaders of the PAN, PRD and PRI parties said they would vote against the project.
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For his part, López Obrador said that the protest was "racist" and "classist" and announced that he and his Morena party, which has a majority in Congress, had a "plan B" in case their constitutional reform initiative election was rejected.
AMLO's plan B to achieve an electoral reform 2:58
This plan, according to the president, proposes modifications to the secondary laws and not to the Constitution as it was originally proposed, which means negotiating with all the political forces to move it forward.
These modifications to the law do not require two-thirds of the votes to be approved (just a simple majority).
With information from Reuters and Belén Zapata
AMLO Electoral Reform